The UK media, the London bombings and Venezuela

By Aleksander Boyd

London 13.07.05 | At 9.10am my brother in law called me from the city; he was on his way to Holborn, from Dagenham, to hand in some papers when the tube authorities decided to halt all trains. Stranded, he asked me what was happening. At 9.50am my wife arrives from dropping off our daughter at school. She also asks what's going on. The TV is not showing anything and there is no information on the internet. At 10am we turned the radio on; LBC is reporting that a bus has exploded in Tavistock Square and additionaly a power surge has caused explosions in three underground lines. I check the websites of the BBC, the Times, Reuters, the FT, the Guardian, TFL, no one is reporting anything and I say to myself "I can't believe these people..." So I put together a short article and post it on this, very basic and precarious, website. Three updates follow during the morning and early afternoon. Thousands visit the site that day...

The bombings took place in central London, there is nothing closer to the heart of the former empire, and yet, it took the UK media more than one hour to react and start reporting the events. Is there any chance of them, ever, getting the stories about Venezuela right and in timely fashion? I think not...